By Palma Ileye
Africa Minerals Strategy Group (AMSG) has called for the immediate mobilisation of rescue equipment and urgent safety reforms following the collapse of an informal gold mine in West Kordofan, Sudan, where dozens of artisanal miners were reportedly killed.
Chairman of the group, Dr. Dele Alake, in a statement on Thursday, expressed condolences to the families and communities of the miners who lost their lives in the collapse at the Al-Zaraa gold mine near Al-Nuhud town.
Alake said initial reports indicated that several people remained trapped beneath the rubble, describing the incident as a major human tragedy that highlights the dangers faced by informal and artisanal miners across Africa.
According to him, the reported collapse of interconnected shafts in loose terrain underscores the need for stronger safety standards, engineering controls and regulatory oversight in artisanal mining operations.
He said the situation was further worsened by the lack of heavy excavation equipment, forcing survivors and local responders to rely on rudimentary hand tools in their efforts to rescue those trapped underground.
The AMSG Chairman called for the immediate pooling of regional and local resources to deploy heavy lifting and excavation equipment to the mine site, while urging authorities to intensify search-and-rescue operations and provide medical assistance to survivors.
Alake also urged governments, regional bodies and industry stakeholders across Africa to accelerate the formalisation of artisanal and informal mining operations through training, basic safety enforcement and stronger institutional oversight.
He said artisanal mining remained an important source of livelihood for communities facing conflict and economic hardship, but stressed that mineral extraction should not be carried out at the expense of human life and dignity.
“Human life must always supersede resource extraction,” Alake said, urging greater protection for vulnerable mining workers operating in conflict-affected and politically unstable regions.
He reaffirmed AMSG’s commitment to promoting policies that would ensure Africa’s mineral resources are mined, managed and processed with greater attention to safety, dignity and respect for human life.
